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James Cecil Parke

Country (sports)	Great Britain and Ireland
Born	(1881-07-26)26 July 1881 Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland
Died	27 February 1946(1946-02-27) (aged 64) Llandudno, Conwy, Wales
Turned pro	1900 (amateur tour)
Retired	1925
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	193–40 (82.83%)
Career titles	31
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1914, P.A. Vaile)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1912)
Wimbledon	SF (1910, 1913)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1912)
Wimbledon	F (1920)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	W (1914)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1912)
Rugby player
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) – Monkstown () – DUFC () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1901–1908 Leinster 10 () Correct as of 30 January 2021 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1903–1909 Ireland 20 (36) Correct as of 8 February 2021
Medal record Representing  Great Britain Tennis, Summer Olympics 1908 London Outdoor doubles

James Cecil Parke (26 July 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an Irish rugby union player, tennis player, golfer, solicitor and World War I veteran. He became an Olympic silver medallist, Davis Cup champion, Wimbledon Mixed Doubles winner and Australasian Championships winner in both Singles and Doubles. He has often been referred to as Ireland's greatest ever sportsman.

Early life

James Parke was born in the town of Clones located in County Monaghan, Ireland. He was one of eight children to Emily (née Pringle) and William Parke. When he was nine years old, Parke played for his hometown's chess team. He attended the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and after graduation he attended Trinity college to study law. Having been a part of the Irish golf team in 1906, Parke was also considered a top-class track and field sprinter and a cricketer.

Rugby career

From 1901 to 1908, Parke played on the rugby teams of Monkstown, Dublin University. He also played on the provincial level for Leinster. Between 1903 and 1909, he also played in twenty games for the Irish national team. Parke captained Ireland on three occasions. He helped Ireland win two of their three 1906 Home Nations matches, resulting in a shared championship with Wales. In his final international cap, Parke kicked a penalty and a conversion to help seal a 19–8 victory in Ireland's first match against France.

Tennis career

As a tennis player, Parke was a baseliner whose best shot was a running down-the-line forehand. Through his career, Parke achieved a number of feats. Having already became the European singles champion in 1907, Parke later won a silver medal in the 1908 Olympics in men's doubles, the Australian men's singles and doubles tennis titles in 1912, and the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 1914. He won eight Irish Lawn Tennis Singles titles, four doubles and two mixed titles. Parke was ranked world No. 4 in both 1913 and 1920 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph. He was described as having the strongest claim to the "championships of the world" by P.A. Vaile for the 1914 season.

Having already played in the Davis Cup (then known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge), he defeated Norman Brookes and Rodney Heath in the Challenge Round on 28–30 November 1912, helping the British Isles capture the Cup in one of his greatest accomplishments. The following year he beat Maurice McLoughlin and Richard Norris Williams in the Challenge Round on 25–28 July 1913. However, the British Isles lost the meeting against the USA. Parke wore a four-leaved shamrock during every match he played.

Military

At the outset of World War 1, Parke enlisted in the Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) with the rank of captain (1914), before switching to the Essex regiment where he was promoted to Major in 1917. He was wounded twice, at Gallipoli and on the Western front.

Personal life

Parke married Sybil Smith in 1918 and moved to her hometown of Llandudno, Wales in 1920 where he joined Chamberlain and Johnson law practice. He died in Llandudno in 1946 following a heart attack.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 title

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1912	Australasian Championships	Grass	Alfred Beamish	3–6, 6–3, 1–6, 6–1, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1912	Australasian Championships	Grass	Charles Dixon	Alfred Beamish Gordon Lowe	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	1920	Wimbledon	Grass	Algernon Kingscote	Chuck Garland R. Norris Williams	6–4, 4–6, 5–7, 2–6

Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1913	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Agnes Tuckey Hope Crisp	6–3, 3–5 retired
Win	1914	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Marguerite Broquedis Anthony Wilding	4–6, 6–4, 6–2

See also

• Frank Stoker

References

1. "Irish Identity: Ireland's greatest all-round sportsman". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
2. ^ Vaile, P.A. (1915). Modern Tennis (2nd ed.). p. 242.
3. "James Parke". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
4. "James Cecil Parke". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
5. ^ "Is James Cecil Parke Ireland's greatest ever sportsman?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
6. ^ "From All Blacks opponent to tennis champion: Ireland sporting great James Cecil Parke's Kiwi links". stuff nz. 8 March 2019. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
7. ^ "James Cecil Parke". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
8. "Ireland's greatest all-round sportsman?". ESPNscrum. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
9. "Career Figures". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
10. "J. Cecil Parke". tennis.co.nf. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
11. "James Cecil Parke Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
12. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 422.

External links

• "Parke, James Cecil" . Thom's Irish Who's Who . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. 200  – via Wikisource.

• James Cecil Parke at Irish Rugby Football Union
• James Cecil Parke at ESPNscrum
• James Cecil Parke at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• James Cecil Parke at the International Tennis Federation
• James Cecil Parke at the Davis Cup

• 1881 births
• 1946 deaths
• Australasian Championships (tennis) champions
• British male tennis players
• Dublin University Football Club players
• Ireland international rugby union players
• Ireland national rugby union team captains
• Irish male golfers
• Irish male tennis players
• Irish rugby union players
• Leinster Rugby players
• Monkstown Football Club players
• Olympic tennis players for Great Britain
• Tennis players at the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)
• Olympic medalists in tennis
• Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
• Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics
• World number 1 ranked male tennis players
• Rugby union players from County Monaghan
• Rugby union centres
• People from Clones, County Monaghan
• Military personnel from County Monaghan
• 20th-century Irish sportsmen